The Name Above Every Name

We're going to begin today with the reading from Philippians 2,

Philippians 2:5–11

verses 5 through 11. So if you would listen along as that is read.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus,

who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something

to be used to his own advantage.

Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness, And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name.

That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth.

And every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Shakespeare tells us that there is nothing in a name, that it really means nothing.

He says that if a rose were called by any other name, it would smell just as sweet.

And that's true. A rose would still smell just the same if it was called by

some other name, but Shakespeare would have us think that names really don't matter.

And on that account, he is wrong.

You see, if I were to give you a check for a million dollars that I had signed.

Don't take it to the bank. It's worthless.

But if I gave you a check with Bill Gates' signature on it for a million dollars,

you can bet that there's a full value in it.

Names do mean something. When

you hear the name of Moses, you think of the great leader and lawgiver.

The name of David brings to mind the shepherd boy who became a king,

the poet who wrote the 23rd Psalm.

The name of Solomon makes us think of wisdom and wealth.

Well, maybe not so much wisdom when he had 700 wives and 300 concubines.

But anyway, John Wesley's name causes us to think of the founding of the Methodist movement.

Henry Ford's name reminds us of the automobile industry in the,

So names do mean something. We should place a high value upon our names and

live in such a way as to never bring a bad reputation on our own name.

When I'm out at the school, when I'm substituting, I like to learn the kids'

names, their first names.

And I learned this from Dale Carnegie, although I didn't sit under his tutelage.

I read some books by him. but he said a person's first name is the sweetest

sound in the entire language to them.

And so if we can learn people's names and if we can remember those names,

it's something very important to them.

Names do mean something. We should place a high value upon our names and live

so that we never bring a bad reputation to our own name.

The Bible tells us that a good name is far better than great riches.

We should live in such a way that when people hear our names,

they will be reminded of goodness and honesty and usefulness and even of Christ himself.

I trust that when people hear our names in this community, they will understand

that we're good people. We can be trusted.

But today I would present to you the greatest name that has ever been spoken.

This name has been spoken by every tongue, tribe, race. It has been whispered in the hour of death.

It is a blessed, wonderful name of Jesus. And the songwriter penned it well

when these words were written, Jesus, oh, how sweet the name,

Jesus every day the same.

Jesus, let all saints proclaim its mighty praise forever.

So let's look at the name of Jesus. And the first thing we see is that the name

of Jesus is a saving name.

Before Jesus' birth, the angel said to Joseph, you shall call his name Jesus,

for he shall save his people from their sin.

Jesus was a teacher, a healer, an example, but first and foremost, he was and is a Savior.

The name Jesus, or Yesu, or even Joshua, a derivative of that, means God saves.

It's simply what it means.

And so God said he would say, if he said, turn to me and be saved,

all you ends of the earth.

When we think of the ends of the earth, we think of those places farthest removed from us.

We think of others, especially everybody else in Africa and India.

But this text really refers to those far removed from God, not in distant places

but in distance from God himself.

It means that the lowest vilest sinner in all the world is invited to come to Jesus and be saved.

It means that anyone anywhere who is not one with God can come to Jesus and be saved.

Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

And that even means us, despite how unclean and desperate we may be.

I remember one gentleman in Peoria, Illinois, who I did the funeral for his

girlfriend, and I talked with him about his salvation and stuff.

He says, oh, you see, Pastor, you don't understand.

He said, Jesus would never want me. God would never want me.

I've been so awful. My life has been so horrible. God would never want me.

And I said, God wants every one of us, and it doesn't matter what we've done.

He's going to bring us if we accept him. The Bible says, though your sins are

like scarlet, they will be made white as snow.

The Bible also says the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.

It doesn't matter how far away we are from God.

It doesn't matter how much sin we have had in our life.

It doesn't matter how much filth we have lived in.

Jesus came to save us from that. Paul said, this is a trustworthy saying that

deserves full acceptance.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

Jesus also said, whoever comes to me, I will not drive away.

Throughout the Bible, the Lord is promising to save all of those who come to

him through Jesus Christ.

Men may break their promises, but Jesus never does.

So when it comes to promises, you

know the old saying God said it I believe it that settles it

we don't have to put the believe part in there as

promises goes if God said it that settles it I mean yeah we should believe it

but our belief doesn't make make it truth God makes it truth and he has saved

many of us most of us have felt the power of the Holy Spirit in conviction he

has pointed us to the Lamb of God,

who is the only one who takes away the sins of the world.

He has taken away our sin, and he has saved us. We have repented of our sin and put our trust in him.

Now we have the assurance in our hearts that we are children of God.

Paul said this, I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able

to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day,

speaking of the end days.

And God has saved others. Long ago, a bartender in England was dealing out damnation in his saloon.

But one day, Christ came into the man's life and heart, and God called this

man, who was a bartender wreaking out havoc, to preach.

So there's hope for all of us.

And he went up and down all of England preaching the gospel.

He came to America with John Wesley and led thousands of souls to the Savior.

It is said that 70,000 people were converted under this man's ministry, this former bartender.

He preached in open fields to 20,000 or more at a time without the help of a microphone, Phil.

His name was George Whitefield, one of the original members of the Holy Club,

along with John and Charles Wesley.

How can you account for such men? How can you account for men like Dwight L.

Moody, Billy Sunday, Billy Graham, Louis Palau, Lee Strobel,

Bill Hybels, and thousands of others like them who have been saved out of wretched

environments to come and preach the gospel?

The answer is altogether simply this, Jesus.

So look at your own life. Once you were on the downward path of sin,

you despised the things of Christ and his church.

You wouldn't come out and say that, but your lifestyle was such that you did

not live in a way that was befitting of someone who followed Christ.

But now all of that has been changed, and the question comes in,

who made that change? Did you make that change?

No. It was only by grace you have been saved through Christ,

and that is through faith.

The second thing we see in this is that the name of Jesus is a precious name.

Peter said, now to you who believe, he is precious.

The name of wife or mother or sweetheart or child is precious,

but the name of Jesus is the most precious name of all.

And that's why it irritates me when people use that name in vain.

That's the name of my Jesus. I had one student a couple years ago at school

was saying, Jesus Christ this and Jesus Christ that.

And I said, listen, I said, that's the name of the man who I trust for my salvation.

Please don't take his name that way.

Please respect him. The name of Jesus is precious because of what he has done.

He picked us up out of the muck and mire of sin and made us into children of God.

Abraham Lincoln was born in

a log cabin, but destiny lifted him to the highest office in the nation.

Woodrow Wilson was lifted from a poor preacher's household to that same presidential

office, so there's still hope for my daughters.

And Herbert Hoover came from a blacksmith's cottage.

But Jesus Christ has done more than that for each one of us.

He has had mercy upon us in our own low estate and has lifted us up to a position

as joint heirs with him in the kingdom of heaven. Can you believe that?

We're filthy people. We're dirt. We're rags.

But God has lifted us up and made us joint heirs with Christ as children of

God in the kingdom of heaven.

Hmm. and maybe we should act like it. Did I say that out loud?

Anyway, the name of Jesus is precious because of what he's doing now.

He is keeping us in the hollow of his hand. He saved us, and now he is sustenance.

One day as Jesus passed through Jericho, he saw a little man by the name of

Zacchaeus up in a sycamore tree.

He called Zacchaeus down and gave him eternal life. An old legend tells us that

later in life, Zacchaeus would go out each morning to that little tree,

and he would water its roots and pull up the weeds around it.

Then putting his arms around the tree, he would say, this is the tree that brought

me to Jesus, whom my soul loves.

One time I heard someone say that the thing that bothered them the most about

Christians is that when they talked about the works of Jesus,

they had to go back in their memories 20, 30, or 40 years to the time that they were saved.

It didn't seem that there was anything new or fresh in their lives regarding

a here and now encounter with Jesus.

I wonder when was the last time we had a true encounter with Jesus.

And why is that? When we talk about the mercies of God, why do we have to go back to the long ago?

If God's mercies are new every day, then we should be being saved,

as the scripture says, implying a continuing work of God's grace,

a continual cleansing of his grace, and continual empowerment for his service.

Our experience with Jesus should be fresh and vital and relevant to the unbelievers

around us as when it was first experienced, and if not, then we should be asking

ourselves, who has gone stale?

If our experience with Christ is not new and fresh every day,

how do we expect others to have a desire to,

for what we have. We are God's sheep and his children to whom he has given eternal life.

Shouldn't each one of us who calls himself or herself a Christian be on fire

for the great commission of winning our souls, our neighbor's souls to Christ?

Shouldn't we be vibrant witnesses for Jesus all the time in everything we say, do, and think.

Jesus said that we are to judge a tree by its fruit.

When Jesus saw a tree not bearing fruit, he cursed it, and it withered and died.

So what else is Jesus doing now? He is answering our prayers.

He is also interceding for us or standing in our place before the Father.

There was a man who had gone on trial before the court on a certain date.

He knew he was guilty and that he would be charged a large fine, but he had no money.

When he reached the court, however, he learned that his fine had been paid by

a friend, so he left the court a free man rejoicing instead of being doomed.

Someone had interceded for him and paid his penalty, for which he was grateful.

Well, Jesus has done just that for us.

We are guilty of many things, and the fine for our crime is death by separation from God.

But through his intercession for us, the penalty has been paid,

and we have been set free.

We should go rejoicing, shouldn't we?

The name of Jesus is precious because of what he will do.

Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place

for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

Wouldn't it be, isn't it awesome to be in the presence of God, presence of Christ?

Bible tells us that we have not seen or heard or even imagined all the good

things that God has in store for us.

Sure, I've told you the story before, but some years ago, our family was going

for a drive after a Sunday evening service.

While we were driving, the conversation turned to the topic of heaven,

what would heaven be like?

Nancy and I were sitting in the front seats of our minivan. We were waxing eloquently

about the glories of heaven, the singing, the golden streets,

the many rooms in God's house.

We spoke about being in Christ's presence all the time.

We spoke about those who we would see when we arrived in heaven.

We spoke about being able to finally ask God certain questions that we had been long contemplating.

I even spoke, Liz, I even spoke about being able to sing praises to God in four-part

harmony all at the same time.

After several minutes of this discussion, our youngest daughter,

Bethany, a second grader at the time, came up quietly to stand between us in our minivan.

After waiting quietly and patiently for her parents to shut up so she could

ask her question, Bethany finally said, Daddy, will there be chocolate milk in heaven?

You see, in her quiet, confident way, she knew that God would have everything

that was really special for her in heaven.

And one of the most special, glorious things for her would be chocolate milk.

Well, we don't know all there is to know about heaven, but we do know that it

will be a place of complete peace and a place of complete satisfaction.

It will be far greater than we can possibly imagine.

But God has good things in store for us here on earth as well,

and it may be the answers to our prayers in the salvation of love room.

My uncle Sam, Sam Rucker, not the one that you're thinking of with Stars and

Stripes, But my Uncle Sam Rucker was a battled, hardened military man,

a member of the Marines who was rough and gruff with everyone he met.

He was not concerned about the things of God because he was a self-made man.

But after decades of prayer of his wife, of his family, and of his cousins and

nieces and nephews in many churches, Uncle Sam accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior one day.

When he was in his 70s.

The name of Jesus is also a comforting name.

Before Christ went back to heaven, he said, do not let your hearts be troubled.

Trust in God, trust also in me. There are many times in our lives when our hearts

are troubled and we need the comfort that only God can give.

There are times when we worry about our children and our grandchildren.

There are times when we grieve about our loved ones in lost times,

the name of Jesus is a comfort in time of sorrow.

All of us have had our black Fridays, our black days. All of us have walked

down the valley of tears and sadness.

Where do we find comfort in such an hour? Where do we find hope?

Our worldly friends cannot give it to us, even though they try.

And when I have funerals, when there's a one who does not know Jesus who has

passed, there is no hope in that funeral.

But when there's somebody that knows Jesus who has passed on,

there's all the hope in the world that if we follow with Christ,

we will see our loved one again.

Jesus spoke, and the dead man Lazarus heard his voice and came out of the tomb.

All we need to do in times of sorrow and trouble is to send for Jesus and listen to his words of life.

The name of Jesus is also a comfort when we're dying.

If our Lord waits in coming back, the hour of death will come upon each one

of us, and we're going to need him then.

We'll want to feel the touch of his hands upon ours as he leads us across what's

proverbial called the Jordan River.

And then Jesus, the name of Jesus is also a conquering name.

The name of Jesus is a conquering name to many in Judaism.

Others, often we hear of a Jew who has come to know that the Christ of the New

Testament is actually the Messiah spoken of in the Old Testament.

What a glorious time when they find out that this Jew named Jesus,

who is historical creature, figure that was spoken of as the Messiah in the

Old Testament is actually the real Messiah and has come.

They become happy and active Christians following in the footsteps of Saul,

who became Paul upon his conversion, the mighty apostle at the call of Jesus.

He became Paul, the supercharged evangelist who denied everything to tell everyone

everywhere about the man named Jesus.

He counted everything as dung, but for the sake of Christ—.

The name of Jesus is conquering many in Islam as well.

You may not know that, but we have many accounts of Muslims who testify of a

man, Jesus, appearing to them in their dreams and calling them to repent of

their ways and turn to Christ.

These Muslims have gone on to denounce their Islamic faith and follow Jesus,

being radically saved like the Apostle Paul.

And oftentimes these newly converted become outcasts in their own community

because of their new faith, even being threatened to be stoned or beheaded in

mercy killings by their family.

The name of Jesus is conquering paganism and hedonism.

In the New Hebrides Islands, there's a tablet on a Presbyterian church which

gives testimony to the great revival that began there in the mid-1800s.

It proclaims that before the Reverend John Getty brought the name of Christ

to the islands, there were no Christians.

But when he left in 1872, there were no heathen.

The name of Jesus conquers paganism and hedonism wherever the name of Jesus

is proclaimed by a true follower of Christ.

The name of Jesus is conquering sinful hearts everywhere.

He doesn't have to conquer by sword or gun or bomb. He conquers by love and grace.

A long time ago, a rebellious knight lifted his sword toward heaven and cried

out in blasphemy against God.

Suddenly, the wind blew a piece of paper near his feet, and he picked up the

paper and read these words, God is love.

Immediately, this battle-hardened night, the man burst into tears and surrendered everything to Christ.

And as the song says, love lifted me, love lifted me, when nothing else could help.

Love lifted me. And then the name of Jesus is and will be an exalted name.

Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name.

Other names have been exalted by men, but this name is and will be exalted by God himself.

The Son of Man left heaven. He laid aside his clothes of royalty and came down

to a world of sin and despair.

Even though he was rich for our sake, he became poor.

Here he was debased, ridiculed, mocked, and scorned, and beat.

He filled the lowest place on earth. He had no earthly wealth,

no home, no family, no property.

He died on a shameful and old rugged cross.

Then Jesus said, or then God said, that's enough.

Now, I said that just the way my dad always said it to me.

And I know you have probably heard your dad say that at times, that's enough.

When he said that, when dad said that, we knew that we'd gone too far.

And God said, that's enough. Jesus has suffered enough.

He has gone low enough. He has been devalued in the eyes of men too much.

Now I will give him a throne.

I'll lift his name and place it above every name.

The message of the song is still the same. Jesus, oh, how sweet the name.

Jesus, every day the same. Jesus, let all saints proclaim.

It's worthy praise forever.

Jesus came to the earth and was crucified, put to death on a cross.

He wore a peasant's garment.

His hands and feet were nailed to the cross. He wore a crown of thorns.

But God changed all that.

When Jesus comes again, he will sit upon a royal throne.

His garments will be as white as snow. His face will be brighter than the sun.

His hand will hold the scepter of universal domain.

Then the angels and the hosts of heaven will sing out all hail the power of Jesus' name.

Let angels prostrate fall, bring forth a royal diadem, and crown him Lord of all.

And then the crown will be placed

upon his head while the shout rings out throughout the halls of heaven.

Would you read this with me loudly? Therefore,

God has exalted him to the highest place and given him the name that is above

every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus

Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.